The Amur River | The Amur's siren song; The long river that marks the border between Russia and China has proved to be a site of dashed hopes. Economist, Dec. 17, 2009.
http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15108641
Note:
(a) Tarshish
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarshish
("The Bible uses the term ships of Tarshish to denote large ships intended for large voyages whatever their destination; some Bible translations, including the NIV, go as far as to translate the phrase ship(s) of Tarshish as 'trading ship(s)'")
(b) Grand Duchy of Moscow
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchy_of_Moscow
("The Grand Duchy of Moscow was a medieval Russian polity centered on Moscow between 1340 and 1547. The Grand Duchy of Moscow, as the state is known in Russian records, has been referred to by many Western sources as Muscovy.")
(c) potter (vi): PUTTER
putter (vi): "to move or act without plan or purpose: occupy oneself aimlessly"
(d) Treaty of Nerchinsk 尼布楚條約
(e) Kiakhta 恰克图
(f) Yishiha 亦失哈
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yishiha
("It is believed that Yishiha was a Haixi Jurchen [海西女真] by origin")
(g) liman (n; Russian): "mouth of a river"
All English definitions are from Webster (3rd ed, 1961).
I am indeed impressed, because Min (specifically, the expedition led by
Yishiha) and Manchu armies did not have firearms but Russians must have had.
Watch Japanese movies set in the Warring-States Period (戦国時代 Sengoku
jidai, 1467–1573) and you will see muskets (rifles)* and cannons.
Footnote *: In 1543, a Chinese ship carrying Portuguese had wrecked on
Tanegashima island 種子島. Local seignior, Tanegashima Tokitaka bought 2
rifles from Portuguese.
Both Manchus and Russians had cannons in the spats leading up top Treaty of
Nerchinsk, I presume. See the three paragraphs (about China) in
Cannon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannon
"The first documented battlefield use of gunpowder artillery took place on
January 28, 1132, when Song General Han Shizhong used huochong to capture a
city in Fujian. The world's earliest known cannon, dated 1282, was found in
Mongol-held Manchuria. The first known illustration of a cannon is dated to
1326. In his 1341 poem, The Iron Cannon Affair, one of the first accounts of
the use of gunpowder artillery in China, Xian Zhang wrote that a cannonball
fired from an eruptor could 'pierce the heart or belly when it strikes a
man or horse, and can even transfix several persons at once.'
"Joseph Needham suggests that the proto-shells described in the Huolongjing
may be among the first of their kind. The Chinese also mounted over 3,000
cast bronze and iron cannon on the Great Wall of China, to defend themselves
from the Mongols. The weapon was later taken up by both the Mongol
conquerors and the Koreans. Chinese soldiers fighting under the Mongols
appear to have used hand cannon in Manchurian battles during 1288, a date
deduced from archaeological findings at battle sites.
"In the 1593 Siege of Pyongyang, 40,000 Ming troops deployed a variety of
cannon to bombard an equally large Japanese army. Despite both forces having
similar numbers, the Japanese were defeated in one day, due to the Ming
advantage in firepower. Throughout the Seven Year War in Korea, the Chinese-
Korean coalition used artillery widely, in both land and naval battles.
【 在 choi 的大作中提到: 】
: The Amur River | The Amur's siren song; The long river that marks the border between Russia and China has proved to be a site of dashed hopes. Economist, Dec. 17, 2009.
: http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15108641
: Note:
: (以下引言省略...)
(d) Xian Zhang and his poem The Iron Cannon Affair:
For a while I could not find the Chinese for either. Then I came upon
Joseph Needham, Science and Technology in China (Vol. 5 Chemistry and
chemical technology, Pt 7 Military technology: the gunpowder epic. Cambridge
University Press (1986)
, which at page 270 wrote Chang Hsieh and his poem Thieh Phao Hsing--with
footnotes 張憲 and 鐵炮行, respectively.
(e) Huolongjing 火龍經
My comment: In the preceding posting, I wrote Manchus had no musket. I was
wrong. See
Musket
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musket
("Muskets were used in China at least from the 14th century. Musketeers were
utilized in the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) and Qing Dynasty (1644–1911).
The 14th century Chinese military treatise Huolongjing already describes a
matchlock. In Zhao Shizhen's book of 1598 AD, the Shenqipu, there were
illustrations of Ottoman Turkish riflemen with detailed illustrations of
their muskets, alongside European musketeers with detailed illustrations of
their muskets.[4] There was also illustration and description of how the
Chinese had adopted the Ottoman kneeling position in firing while favoring
European-made rifles.")
【 在 choi 的大作中提到: 】
: I am indeed impressed, because Min (specifically, the expedition led by
: Yishiha) and Manchu armies did not have firearms but Russians must have had.
: Watch Japanese movies set in the Warring-States Period (戦国時代 Sengoku
: jidai, 1467–1573) and you will see muskets (rifle
: (以下引言省略...)